Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the
pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead
wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep
with the record.
— Paul, Vinyl Curator
Louis Armstrong And Eddie Condon
At Newport
1956 · Columbia CL 931 · Mono · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM
Pressing details
| Label | Columbia |
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| Catalogue number | CL 931 |
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| Year | 1956 |
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| Mono / Stereo | Mono |
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| Country | US |
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| Format | LP |
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| Speed | 33 1/3 RPM |
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| Genre | Jazz - Dixieland/Traditional Jazz |
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| Producer | George Avakian |
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| Performer / Orchestra | Louis Armstrong And His All-Stars; Eddie Condon And His All-Stars |
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| Musicians | Louis Armstrong (trumpet, vocals), Trummy Young (trombone), Edmond Hall (clarinet), Billy Kyle (piano), Barrett Deems (drums), Louis Armstrong And His All-Stars (bass uncredited on labels); Wild Bill Davison (cornet), Cutty Cutshall or Lou McGarity (trombone), Peanuts Hucko or Edmond Hall (clarinet), Bud Freeman (tenor sax), Gene Schroeder (piano), Eddie Condon (guitar), Cliff Leeman (drums), Eddie Condon And His All-Stars |
|---|
Matrix / Runout
Side A: XLP 39086-1B * 11AA
Side B: XLP 39087-1D *
Condition
- Cover
- NM
- Vinyl
- VG+
Variant chronology
1956 - Maroon/red 6-eye label, deep groove, mono, earliest -1A/1A stamper
1956 - Maroon/red 6-eye label, deep groove, mono, later stampers (-1B/-1D) <- this copy
c.1963-1965 - Red 2-eye label reissue, no deep groove - price not established
This Pressing
1956 Columbia CL 931 mono - 6-eye deep-groove label, runout suffixes -1B/-1D place it within the original pressing generation but not the earliest -1A stamper.
The Album
Captured live at the American Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island on July 5 and 6, 1956, this album pairs Louis Armstrong's touring All-Stars with Eddie Condon's Chicago-style Dixieland ensemble on the same bill, though the two leaders never actually share a bandstand on record. By 1956 Armstrong's All-Stars, with Trummy Young, Edmond Hall and Billy Kyle, were a well-drilled unit whose Newport appearances had already become annual events for producer George Avakian's Columbia documentation of the festival. Condon, the guitarist-impresario who had been a fixture of small-group Chicago and New York jazz since the 1920s, brought a rotating cast of veteran swing and Dixieland players including Wild Bill Davison and Bud Freeman. The album captures the informal, good-natured competitive spirit that characterized the Newport festival's early years, with each group running through its own signature repertoire of standards and blues. Armstrong's side leans on warhorses like
Tracklist
Side 1
1. Indiana (Back Home Again In Indiana)
2. A Theme From The Threepenny Opera (Mack The Knife) - vocal: Louis Armstrong
3. Whispering
4. Bugle Blues
5. Ole Miss
Side 2
1. Bye An' Bye (Spiritual)
2. Squeeze Me
3. Struttin' With Some Barbecue
4. I Want A Big Butter And Egg Man
The Label
Both side labels are the classic red Columbia "6-eye" design: white "COLUMBIA" arc logo at top, six small "eye" logos in black side panels (three per side, matching the deep-groove/6-eye Columbia standard used c.1955-1962), red field, black rim bands, and "NONBREAKABLE"/"MADE IN U.S.A." rim text with no ring-band slogan. The vinyl has a deep groove, consistent with early-to-mid Columbia 6-eye pressings before Columbia phased out deep groove circa 1958-59. The runout suffixes here (-1B and -1D) are later stamper generations than the earliest -1A/1A copies, so this is an early but not the very first stamper pressing within the same 6-eye deep-groove first-issue label design.
Fidelity
This is a mono live recording from 1956, mastered for Columbia's standard 6-eye era LP cutting rather than any audiophile process; sound quality reflects the limitations of remote festival recording of the period, with reasonable balance but limited depth compared to studio Columbia jazz dates. Collectors on the forums generally regard the original 6-eye mono pressing as the most authentic and best-sounding version, since no audiophile reissue (Mobile Fidelity, Analogue Productions, Classic Records, etc.) of this specific title exists. The only later variant is the 1994 CD box on Sony/Legacy, which offers cleaner surfaces but a different, remastered sound signature rather than a vinyl-cutting improvement over this LP.
Notes
1956 Columbia CL 931 mono, first-issue 6-eye deep-groove red label design. Matrix XLP 39086-1B/XLP 39087-1D shows later stampers than the earliest-documented 1A/1A copies, so this is an original-era pressing but not the first stamper run. Deep groove and 6-eye label place manufacture within Columbia's 1955-58 deep-groove window, consistent with a 1956 release date.
Documenting collections
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